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A Canadian employer seeking to hire a temporary foreign worker generally needs a positive or neutral Labour Market Opinion (LMO) before the prospective employee applies for a work permit. Obtaining an LMO has traditionally been a very arduous process for employers, and I have previously in this column described the LMO as being the three scariest letters in the foreign worker alphabet.

On April 29, 2012, however, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, also known as Service Canada, introduced the Accelerated Labour Market Opinion, or A-LMO. It rewards regular and compliant employers of foreign workers with reduced LMO processing times. Service Canada also introduced flexibility regarding the wages paid to foreign workers.

The A-LMO

The purpose of the A-LMO is to reduce processing times. Service Canada processes A-LMO applications in less than 10 business days, a significant reduction from the average LMO processing time of two to four months.

To be eligible to participate in the A-LMO initiative, an employer must:

have been issued at least one positive LMO within the two years prior to filing the A-LMO application

have a clean compliance record with the temporary foreign worker program

not be the subject of an investigation, infraction, serious complaint or have any unresolved violations or contraventions governing employment and recruitment

be seeking to fill a high-skilled position

In addition to reduced processing times, an employer participating in the A-LMO initiative will not have to provide proof of recruitment with its A-LMO application. The employer will also generally be waived from the in-depth interview requirement.

Although employers will not have to submit proof of recruitment with their A-LMO applications, they still have to comply with recruitment requirements. In order to ensure compliance, Service Canada conducts compliance reviews on approximately 18 per cent of employers issued A-LMOs. These employers are contacted after the A-LMO is issued.

Failure to pass a compliance review can mean the employer will become ineligible in the future to participate in the A-LMO initiative. As well, a failed compliance review can lead to the A-LMO being revoked in certain cases.

Flexibility regarding wages

In other news for employers, there is more flexibility in wages paid to foreign workers. Previously, an employer had to pay a foreign worker an hourly wage equal to or above the prevailing wage rate for the occupation in the foreign worker’s region of employment. The prevailing wage rate was listed on the Working in Canada website. There was no flexibility on this issue, and an employer had to pay a foreign worker that wage even if it exceeded what the employer paid its Canadian and permanent resident staff.

Under the new rules, employers can pay wages that are up to 15 per cent below the median wage for a high-skilled occupation, and five per cent for a low-skilled occupation, in a specific region. Many have misinterpreted the new rule as meaning that employers can pay their foreign workers less than their Canadian staff. This is not the case.

All employers still have to pay temporary foreign workers the same wage that they are paying their Canadian workers for doing the same job in the same location. If an employer wishes to pay less than the prevailing wage rate, they must provide documentation that clearly demonstrates that the wage being paid to a foreign worker is the same as that being paid to Canadian employees in the same job and in the same location.

Steven Meurrens is an immigration lawyer with Larlee Rosenberg in Vancouver. Contact him at 604-681-9887, by email at steven.meurrens@larlee.com or visit his blog at smeurrens.com.

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